The Flake equation is a parody of the Drake equation , which is an estimate the number of detectable extraterrestrial civilizations in our galaxy. The Flake equation, however, provides an estimate about how many stories about aliens are likely to exist. It does so in similar manner: by multiplying number of stars by consecutive probabilities of the star having certain characteristics making detectable life possible. Just like the Drake equation, exact numbers are unknown, but can be estimated, and the equation shows the guesses about the values.

The word "Flake" is informally used to describe a crazy person, such as someone who would imagine an alien encounter.

World population at the time of the creation of the comic, taken as a starting value.

(CR + Mi)

1/10,000 + 1/10,000

Fraction of people who would believe they had been visited by aliens. This is assumed to be people who are crazy, want to feel special, or misinterpret physical phenomena as alien sightings. It is assumed that a total of one in 10,000 people to at least one of the first two of these groups and another one in 10,000 belong to the final group, for a total of one in 5000 belonging to one of these three groups. Multiplied by the world population we get the number of people who believe to have been visited by aliens

TK

1/10

The fraction of those people, who believe to have experienced an alien sighting, that tell others about their experience. Multiplying with the previous values we get the number of people who believe to have experienced an alien sighting, and tell others about it.

F0

10

Average number of people they tell about their "sightings". Multiplying with the previous values we get the amount of people this is the amount of people who hear about the alien sighting from the "primary source".

F1

10

Average number of people that they decide to tell about the "firsthand" account. Multiplying with the previous values we get the amount of people who hear a second-hand account.

DT

9/10

The probability that the details will be slightly adjusted during the retelling process, making the account believable. The total is now the amount of believable alien sighting stories.

AU

1/100

The proportion of people who have the willingness and ability to share this story with the with a broad audience. The total is now the amount of believable alien sightings that are published to a wider audience.

The final results tells us that there should be about 100 000 stories about aliens that have reliable explanation. The data is obviously highly uncertain, and as with the Drake Equation, you can plug in your own numbers, but if you keep your guesses realistic, you will most likely get a very large number. This convinces the reader that the fact that there are many stories about aliens does not necessarily means that many people actually met aliens.

The title text refers to Fermi's Lack-of-a-Paradox as a parody of the Fermi paradox: The contradiction between the high estimated probable existence of extraterrestrial civilizations and the lack of establishing contact to such civilizations by humans.

Another comic parodying this equation is 384: The Drake Equation. The credibility of paranormal reports in general is revisited in 1235: Settled, which posits that if such phenomena were real they should have been unambiguously captured on camera by now.

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